Library of Babel

Contemplating Borges’ Infinite Library

Jorge Luis Borges’ Library of Babel proposes the idea of a structure which contains an ever-expansive wealth of knowledge. Borges questions how we can visualize continuously increasing wealths of knowledge. In the short story, we imagine this space as a dystopian maze wherein its inhabitants find themselves lost in their quest for knowledge and purpose. This project is an attempt to visually solve Borges’ architectural proposition and breathe life into its form.

The

Library of Babel

By this art you may contemplate the variation of the z3 letters. . . .

Anatomy of Melancholy, Pt. z, Sec. II, Mem. IV

The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite, perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries. In the center of each gallery is a ventilation shaft, bounded by a low railing. From any hexagon one can see the floors above and below-one after another, endlessly. The arrangement of the galleries is always the same: Twenty bookshelves, five to each side, line four of the hexagon's six sides; the height of the bookshelves, floor to ceiling, is hardly greater than the height of a normal librarian. One of the hexagon's free sides opens onto a narrow sort of vestibule, which in turn opens onto another gallery, identical to the first identical in fact to all. To the left and right of the vestibule are two tiny compartments. One is for sleeping, upright; the other, for satisfring one's physical necessities. Through this space, too, there passes a spiral staircase, which winds upward and downward into the remotest distance. In the vestibule there is a mirror, which faithfully duplicates appearances. Men often infer from this mirror that the Library is not infinite-if it were, what need would there be for that illusory replication? I prefer to dream that burnished surfaces are a figuration and promise of the infinite. . . . Light is provided by certain spherical fruits that bear the name "bulbs." There are two of these bulbs in each hexagon, set crosswise. The light they give is insufficient, and unceasing. Like all the men of the Library, in my younger days I traveled; I have journeyed in quest of a book, perhaps the catalog of catalogs. Now that my eyes can hardly make out what I myself have written, I am preparing to die, a few leagues from the hexagon where I was born. When I am dead, compassionate hands will throw me over the railing; my tomb will be the unfathomable air, my body will sink for ages, and will decay and dissolve in the wind engendered by my fall, which shall be infinite. I declare that the Li-

Single Hexagon: 4 sides of the room are lined with bookcases and two sides act as dedicated passageways. This unit, when multiplied and attached to itself, creates an infinite line of rooms.

Key:

Example: path of travel from hexagon #1 to #4

Parallel Hexagon Lines: these hexagon lines cooperate with Borges’ description of uniform units. stacked hexagons are rotated 60 degrees to allow movement between rooms.

Stacked Hexagon: borges’ “spiral staircase” is situated within the walls, in effect, spiraling around each hexagonal unit. this allows for circulation throughout the library. see key for details.

Smith College Spring ‘20

Critic: Elisa Kim

Project Length: 6 weeks